The Perfect Murder
by flazeron
Summary: A CSI is a suspect for murder. Are they innocent, or did they really do it? The team comes together to try and figure out who's guilty and who's innocent. Eventual CS
1. Dead Body

**A/N1: I've deleted mousetrap and decided to try something different. I hope you like it. **

**Spoilers: Anything up until season 5 is fair game.**

**Thanks to my beta, Chris.  
**

Standing at the lab table, Catherine sighed as she realized the evidence she had collected had come to another dead end. Catherine grabbed the folder sitting on the table and headed out to find Sara to see if she came up with anything.

As the blonde walked down the hall, she saw Sara storming into her lab and slamming the door shut. Catherine jumped, looking around to see if anybody else witnessed the scene.

Lab techs were looking up, staring at the door that was just slammed. Catherine shook her head and knocked on the door, cracking it open slightly, seeing if it was safe to step in. Sara had her back to the blonde, talking on the phone, unaware that Catherine was there. Catherine could tell Sara was upset and arguing with the person on the other line. Sneaking back out, but leaving the door cracked, Catherine listened to the conversation.

"That's it! You've done it now. I'm tired of your shit, and I'm going to make you pay," Sara snapped harshly into the phone before shutting it, ending the conversation.

Catherine knitted her eyebrows together, wondering who the person was on the other line and how Saw was going to make them pay. Filing it away to think about later, the older CSI knocked on the door louder and stepped into the room as if she just arrived.  
Sara jumped, turning around to look at her guest.

"Was that Brass?" Catherine asked, knowing it wasn't.

The brunette just stared at Catherine for a minute before looking at the phone in her hand and shaking her head.

"No, it wasn't Brass," Sara replied, clipping the phone back on her belt.

"Oh?" came the somewhat question from the blonde.

"It was just somebody I'm meeting up with later. Nothing important." Sara lied, looking straight into the older woman's eyes.

Catherine fought the urge to cringe under Sara's glare as the brunette lied to her. Shaking her head to hide her curiosity, the blonde got down to business.

"So did you find anything in the office? I've reached a dead end with everything I've collected."

"Yeah, I actually found long strands of hair on the carpet up under the boss's desk. From just looking at it, it looks like it could be our victim's, but I'm not sure," Sara said.

"So how does a secretary's hair end up on the carpet in the Boss's office unless something is up?" Catherine asked, the gears turning in her head.

"If they were having an affair, that could be motive for the wife to kill the secretary if she found out," the brunette replied.

"True. So how long will it take to compare the samples?" Catherine asked as she leaned up against the lab table.

"Well, Greg said he had to take care of a high priority case Grissom is trying to close, and he's seriously backlogged. So he probably won't be getting our results back until tomorrow," Sara said, taking her lab coat off and draping it over her arm.

"You're about to leave?" Catherine asked in disbelief, turning to follow Sara out the door and down the hall.

"Yes, I've clocked out, and I would really like to get home," Sara said, looking straight ahead.

Catherine's thoughts of Sara's heated conversation immediately resurfaced. The blonde's musings were cut short when they were interrupted by a voice over the intercom.

"Sara Sidle, you have a visitor at reception, Sara Sidle," came the voice over the PA.

Catherine looked at Sara, surprised the young woman had a visitor. Out of everybody on the graveyard shift, Sara was the only one who hadn't had a visitor yet. Even Grissom got a visit from the occasional bug friend.

Frowning, the brunette excused herself to the lobby. Catherine followed closely behind, intrigued by who Sara's guest could be.

When Sara reached the front lobby, Warrick, Nick, Greg, and even Grissom were up front, wondering who was visiting Sara. Well, Grissom looked like he was looking for Greg rather than Sara's visitor.

Before Sara got the chance to comment on their nosiness, a woman stood up from her seat, rushing towards the young CSI.

"You have some nerve!" the young woman yelled, poking Sara in the shoulder.

Catherine looked at the short redheaded woman yelling at Sara. The blonde stared at both women in front of her to see how the scene would unfold.

Getting over the shock and straightening herself up, Sara quickly gained her composure and turned toward Grissom. "I've already clocked out so I'm heading out now." Sara said, her voice scratchy and fire behind her eyes. Anybody could see she was pissed.

Grissom just barely nodded his head and watched as Sara grabbed the young woman by the elbow and all but yanked her out the door.

The CSI team stared at the redheaded woman in the parking lot yelling and gesturing wildly. Sara turned and got into her Tahoe while the other woman was still yelling. Either Sara was being the good guy and just walking away, or she was seriously pissed off because she started the vehicle up and sped off.

"You guys think we should be worried?" Greg asked, still staring at where the argument took place.

"Nah, you know women. It's probably no big deal. It'll be over and done with by tomorrow," Nick replied, waving his hand dismissively.

"I want to know who that was," Catherine stated, turning toward Trudy at the front desk. "Who was that woman?"

"Um.let me see," Trudy said, scrolling down the sign in list with her finger. "That was Stacey Michaels."

The team looked at each other, shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders, not recognizing the name.

* * *

Catherine stepped into the lab, ready to get her results for her current case so she and Sara could put the perp away. Walking into the break room, the blonde made her way to the coffee pot. Grabbing a cup, Catherine poured what smelled like one of Greg's special blends.  
Nursing the cup in her hand, Catherine looked up to see Sara was not there. 

"Warrick, have you seen Sara?" Catherine asked, sitting down on the couch.

Looking up from the paper, Warrick glanced around. He noticed, too, that the brunette was not there. The man furrowed his brow and shook his had.

"No, I haven't seen her. I passed by her lab on the way in, and I didn't see her in there, either."

"Maybe she's running late," Nick said, walking in and catching the tail end of the conversation.

"Sara? Late?" Warrick shook his head doubtful.

"Assignments," Grissom said, walking in and effectively ending the conversation. "Catherine-"

"Sorry I'm late!" Greg scurried into the room. "I was trying to finish up some samples."

"I hope those were for my case because I need those, Greg," Catherine stated, looking at the lab rat.

"It's not your case anymore, Catherine," Grissom said, shuffling through the slips in his hand. "I'm giving it to Nick; maybe a fresh pair of eyes will help because I heard you've reached a dead end, anyway. I need you and Warrick for a DB we have by an apartment complex."

Warrick stood up, grabbing the slip from Grissom.

"But, Gil." the blonde began to complain.

"We're short handed as it is. Sara called in, and said she was unable to make it-"

"Sara's not coming?!" Greg asked incredulously, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"No, she's not. We still have work to do, though! So get to it." Grissom turned and headed out the door.

Catherine and Warrick pulled up to their crime scene and hopped out of the Tahoe before heading toward Brass.

"What do we have?" the blonde asked, walking with the detective toward the body.

"Nobody saw anything, heard anything, or knows anything," Brass said sighing, clearly frustrated.

"But there's people all around." Warrick looked down the street at all the people walking and talking.

"Maybe too many people," Catherine stated, lifting her sunglasses off her eyes.

"The scene isn't messy. It looks like whoever killed our vic knew what they were doing." Brass stopped at the body.

Stepping up to the body, Catherine gasped, breathing out a "damn."

Warrick mumbled an "oh, shit," shaking his head. He knew he would be facing a few rough weeks ahead.

The blonde quickly snatched the phone off her belt and started dialing.

"Yeah, Gil? I think I might know why Sara called in today. Yeah, our DB is Stacey Michaels."

* * *

**Liked it? Hated it? Let me know.**


	2. Spotless Crime Scene

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! I updated as soon as possible, and I wrote more then I normally do. I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I own CSI and CBS, they all belong to me. I am making a profit off of this fic, so you can sue. Yeah right... **

**Big thanks to my beta Chris.**

"Yes, I'm sure Gil." Catherine said, sighing. "Ok, we will. Yeah…got it."

"What did Grissom say?" Warrick asked, looking over at Catherine.

"Well," Catherine stopped to take a deep breath. "Grissom wants us to process the scene and collect evidence. Basically, we're going to do what we normally do, but before we get into questioning any suspects, we're going to have a meeting with Ecklie." The blonde rolled her eyes.

"Oh, God, we're in for it now." Warrick pulled the camera up to his face.

After taking several pictures, Warrick motioned for David to come over by the body.

"What would you say the time of death was, David?" Catherine asked the young coroner.

David knelt slightly hunched over the body as he read the thermometer.

"Well, based on the liver temperature, the vic died approximately 8 hours ago," David said, taking out the thermometer he stuck in the woman's torso. He headed back to the ambulance to get a gurney for the body.

"I'm going to check the perimeter for any evidence. You work around they body, and I'll work from the outside in," The blonde said as she counted in her head the time the vic died, hoping that the time frame wouldn't fit for Sara to have committed the murder, making her a suspect.

"Ok. So we should meet up somewhere in the middle?" Warrick asked, his head cocked to the side, looking at the body.

"Yeah, what is it?" Catherine asked.

"Look." Warrick picked up the woman's hand. "There's no defensive wounds, and as far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be anything under her nails, either," the dark man said, shaking his head and sighing deeply.

"We're going to do the best we can; I'm sure we'll find something."

Two hours of fruitless searching later, Catherine and Warrick met up in the middle of the perimeter.

"This place is spotless!" Warrick exclaimed, clearly frustrated.

Catherine sighed, saying, "This is definitely the primary. You can tell by the pool of blood and the way the body is positioned. It hasn't been moved."

"I didn't lay down one marker because there wasn't any evidence to mark!"

Catherine patted Warrick on the shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Somebody knew what they were doing."

Catherine just nodded her head and pulled Warrick toward her so she could whisper in his ear.

"Sara left work at 8 this morning after having a very heated discussion with Stacey Michaels in the lab parking lot. Our vic, Stacey Michaels, died around eleven a.m. Do you know what this means? We've got the biggest case of the year on our hands. We're looking at a top priority case and Sara is a suspect," the older CSI whispered.

Warrick thought back to when Holly Gribbs was shot and killed. He wasn't a suspect, but the team still endured a lot, and so did he. All the pressure he was put under, being questioned. Shuddering at the thought, Warrick shook his head, ridding himself of the bad memories.

"We're looking at the FBI here," Warrick said, looking off into the distance, thinking about what the team was about to face.

"No, not the feds. Both the sheriff and Ecklie hate them. They come waltzing in, taking over things, and when everything is solved, they take all the credit. Ecklie doesn't like that, and the sheriff certainly doesn't," Catherine rationalized.

"So dayshift-" Warrick started but was cut off by Catherine raising her hand.

"I don't think that-" Catherine's pager ended her conversation.

"911 emergency meeting in the conference room." Catherine read from her phone and then glanced up at Warrick.

* * *

Brass sat down in the chair at the conference room table, joining the CSI graveyard shift.

Warrick, Catherine, Brass, and Grissom all sat in silence, as if they were trying to avoid the inevitable topic that would be discussed.

Nick and Greg looked around the room, wondering what the others knew that they didn't. After several attempts at trying to make eye contact with the others, they both gave up.

Everybody looked up when the door opened, thinking it was the lab's assistant director. To everyone's surprise, Mia walked in and sat down at the table.

Greg was about to speak when the door opened again.

Ecklie walked swiftly into the room, closing the door behind him and locking it. With a folder in hand, the balding man stood in front of the conference table, eyeing each person there.

Clearing his throat, Ecklie began to speak. "There are a couple of you in this room right now that don't know what is going on. The information I am about to share with you is not to be discussed with anyone." Ecklie squinted at Greg. "Most of you witnessed Sara Sidle in an argument with another woman early this morning. Well, Sara took a personal day today. We all know that is rare, but we have a slight problem. The woman Sara Sidle was arguing with this morning is dead."

Nick's eyes bugged as his brain analyzed what was being said. He couldn't believe it.

Greg just sat, staring at Ecklie, shell shocked.

"No! No way!" Nick exclaimed, when he finally found his voice.

"Yes, way," Ecklie replied. "Would you like to see the body of Stacey Michaels in the morgue?"

Nick just shook his head. "I can't believe you think Sara could've done this!"

"We have motive, Nick. We have the time of death, which was way after Sara left early this morning," the assistant director said, slamming his fist on the table.

"She could have an alibi!" Greg exclaimed, speaking for the first time since he heard the news.

"That's why we are going to question her. To find out if she does. But what are the chances?" Ecklie began to yell. "Sara take's a personal day for the first time since she's been working here, and it just so happened to be the same day the woman she was arguing with out in the lobby ended up murdered!?!"

"Maybe it was just a coincidence!" the Texan yelled back.

Ecklie just smirked and looked at Grissom.

"What is that thing you say, Gil? Something along the lines of… there's no such thing as a coincidence?" Ecklie asked, even though he knew the answer to his question.

Grissom pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"You're not even giving her a chance, man. You're so unfair. You-"

"Nick, I am very fair, which is why you won't be working this case. You can compromise the evidence because you are too close to Sara. Grissom, Warrick, Catherine, and myself will be working this case. We will treat it fairly-"

"Bullshit!" The square jawed Texan jumped up from his chair, knocking it over. "Catherine hates Sara, and you do, too! So how is that fair?"

"Now, you wait a minute, Nick-" Catherine started, angered that Nick thought she would treat the case unfairly.

"I'll handle it, Catherine." Ecklie said, putting up his hand. "Catherine will look at the evidence with-"

"Oh, whatever! You let Catherine work on the case I was a suspect in. When the prostitute ended up dead, and I was one of the last people to see her alive, you allowed Catherine to work the case!"

"Catherine was a professional CS-"

"Catherine was my friend," Nick said firmly.

"Are you looking to be suspended, Nick?" Ecklie asked.

"No, I'm looking for Sara to be treated fairly. I want to be put on this case."

Ecklie threw his hands up in the air. "You want to work on the case? Fine, but you will not be handling any questions or evidence alone."

Nick gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "Ok," came the hoarse reply.

"Here's how this is going to work. Warrick, give me all the evidence you and Catherine found at the scene. Mia is going to run everything. Greg, you're way too close to Sara so you can't be on this case. Catherine and Nick, head to the morgue and see what Doc Robbins has found." The assistant director began giving out orders.

"Ecklie," Warrick said, "there was no evidence, no DNA, absolutely nothing at that scene."

Grissom sat with his mouth wide open, looking at Warrick and then Catherine.

"Nothing!?!? There is always _something_." The balding man began to fuss.

"Not this time. Warrick and I searched every inch of that scene and came up with nothing," Catherine said, speaking up.

"Grissom, you and I are heading out to the location. Warrick, I need the photos you and Catherine took of the scene before we leave. Catherine and Nick, you're still going to the morgue. Greg, take this smash and grab out on the strip."

Catherine and Nick stood up, heading towards the morgue.

* * *

Hey, Doc!" Nick said, pushing the swing door to the morgue.

"Hello, Nick, Catherine." The doctor looked up from the body.

"What do you have for us?" Catherine asked, moving closer.

"I've never really seen anything like this before. I've been over every inch of this body, and there are no defensive wounds, DNA up under the fingernails or in her hair, and there are no signs of poisoning, either. That would've explained the lack of defensive wounds. And get this, the cause of death is a puncture wound straight to the heart, or should I say through?"

"What?" The blonde asked, shaking her head.

"This woman was stabbed by some kind of foreign object that left absolutely nothing in the wound track. Whatever it was, though, was long enough to go through the front and out from the back.

"Wait a minute, so you are telling me that this woman died from stab wounds? Why aren't there any defensive wounds? I mean, her murderer was close enough to stab her, and she didn't fight back?" Nick asked incredulously.

"Look at that hole. That's way too large to have been from a bullet, but I don't know what caused that. What I can tell you, though, is that based on the way the puncture wound is angled, the murderer was more then likely taller than our vic because they stabbed her standing up." The doctor pointed to the hole on the woman's chest as he spoke.

"So, we have something concrete now." Catherine looked at Nick.

"Well, Catherine, I'm afraid not. The more I look at it, it looks like your murderer could've straddled this woman, putting all their weight on their knees and not the body and held the murder weapon over their head." The doctor demonstrated as he explained. "They could've caused the same type of puncture wound as a person standing up.

Catherine and Nick both sighed; they were getting nowhere.

"So our murderer could be short, tall, or in-between?" the blonde asked frustrated.

Al just nodded his head.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help. I've never looked over a body and then washed it without coming up with anything."

"It's ok, Doc." Catherine smiled. "It's not your fault."

Nick and Catherine turned around, leaving the morgue,

"I can't believe it!" Nick exclaimed, taking off his gloves. "There's no evidence. How is there no evidence?"

"I don't know." The blonde shrugged, taking off her gloves as well.

"I mean, no defensive wounds. She must've known who killed her. But think about this. Based on what we saw yesterday, Stacey was so pissed off at Sara, she was about ready to get physical. So if Sara came up to her with a weapon in hand, don't you think Stacey would've fought back?" the Texan asked, stopping as he came up with a theory.

"I don't know, Nick," Catherine said in frustration.

"Look, about what I said earlier-"

"Don't worry about it," the blonde said, waving Nick off.

"Did you guys get anything solid from the autopsy?" Warrick asked, scaring Catherine and Nick.

"Damn, Warrick! You trying to give us a heart attack?" Catherine asked.

"Sorry." Warrick shrugged. "So."

"We got nothing, man." Nick turned to Warrick as they walked down the hall.

"Nothing!?!?" the dark man exclaimed.

"Nothing," Catherine repeated.

"So where are Grissom and Ecklie?" Nick asked.

"They're still at the scene, but they're almost done. Ecklie gave me a call, asking about one of the pictures I took of the perimeter, so they should be done soon."

"Hey, guys." Greg walked down the hall with several evidence bags in his hand. "Can you help me sort through some of this stuff? I mean, if you don't have anything else to do."

"Sure. We're at a complete standstill, and until Ecklie and Grissom come back, we have nothing else to do." Nick said, walking over to Greg to grab some of the bags.

"Warrick, you go ahead, too. I'm going to get a mold of the wound in the victim's body," Catherine said.

"Guys, I don't think Sara could've done something like this," Greg whispered softly, referring to the murder, as he, Warrick, and Nick sorted through glass from his smash and grab.

"I don't, either," Nick said softly. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to prove Sara is innocent, and I'm going to nail the real perp that did this."

"Yeah, I'm not going to overlook anything. I just hope whatever we find doesn't point to Sara," Warrick said as he leaned up against the table. "But you know that if Sara ever decided to commit murder, it would just like this case we have now, flawless.

Nick looked at his friend and sighed. "Yeah, I know if Sara ever-"

"Look at this," Catherine said, holding up an object as she walked into the lab, unaware she interrupted a very private conversation.

"It looks like a cylinder," Greg said looking at the whitish-gray object in the blonde's hand.

"This is a mold of the object that was used to kill Stacey Michaels."

"What is it?" Warrick asked, squinting.

"Well, Greg was right; it is shaped like a cylinder. This means one of two things. One, our vic was killed with some type of cylindrical object, like a pipe or rebar. Or two, a pointy object was at the end of a cylinder type handle. For example a spear. However, I was only able to come up with this cylinder. The weapon was driven so deep through the victim that whatever pointy object was on the end of the handle. we don't know what it is." Catherine did her best to explain.

When the blonde just got blank faces, she tried to explain it another way.

"Basically, there could've been a point on the end of this cylinder, which I assumed is way longer then this." Catherine pointed to the one in her hand. "We don't know because the weapon could've gone its full length into Stacey's body and then been pulled out."

"Oh. I get it, but we still don't know what our murder weapon is," Nick said more than asked.

Catherine shook her head. "But we've got some kind of idea."

"Wait a minute. Let's say our vic was killed with a spear or something. We're looking at the handle being way bigger and wider than the blade itself." Warrick began thinking deeply. "In my mind, the object I'm seeing is really big."

"Yeah. Nick agreed. " I think that somebody would be able to see somebody walking around with a huge spear in their hand."

"Right!" Greg said, jumping in to add his two cents. "And wouldn't you have to be pretty strong to lift one of those and drive it all the way through somebody's chest, down to the handle, and then yank it back out?"

"Exactly! I think-" the Texan started.

"Whoa, wait a minute, guys. We don't know if it was some sot of spear or just a pipe - maybe something else we haven't even thought about!" Catherine said, interrupting the guys before they started making assumptions and jumping to conclusions.

"She's right," Warrick agreed, sighing.

"No DNA, no defensive wounds, no witnesses, no murder weapon, no evidence, period! So what does that leave us with?" Nick asked, looking around.

"One dead body, one murderer, and one serious workaholic willingly taking off on a work day," Ecklie walked into the room with Grissom behind him. "It's time we go question Sara Sidle."

* * *

**I hope you liked this chapter. I'm already working on chapter three. it should be done soon, but I need to know what you would like to see happen in the next chapter because I'm a little stuck. **


	3. Silly Ecklie

**A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but I had a some serious writer's block. My muse wasn't working right, wanting to right things for chapters 4 and 5, but not 3. So...anyway here's the next chapter, I hope you like it. Thanks to my beta, Chris.**

**Oh, and I did my best to try and work in some of the things you guys asked for, if not this chapter, maybe the next. **

**Thanks for the reviews.  
**

* * *

"Wait a minute, Conrad," Grissom spoke up. "We don't have enough evidence to question Sara right now."

"That doesn't mean we can't go to her place, ask a few questions, and see if she lets us have a look around," Ecklie snapped back.

"Yes, but if we question her now then we will be revealing our hand to her, and she will know we suspect her," The grey-haired man rationalized, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Greg squinted his eyes, looking at his boss, not sure if the man was trying to buy Sara time or nail her with evidence. Shaking his head and filing the thought away for later, the lab rat listened in on the conversation.

"Well, that's a chance I'm willing to take. Case closed, Gil. I'm going to get my folder and look up Sara's address." Ecklie turned, and walked out of the lab, brushing past Grissom.

"So, Gris, did you find anything at the scene?" Warrick asked as soon as he was sure Ecklie was out of earshot.

Grissom pursed his lips, taking a deep breath. "We found nothing."

"We are up against a killer that knows their stuff," Nick said, pushing off the table. "Whoever they are, they're making Sara look like she committed this murder."

"What if Sara is the murderer that knows what she's doing?" Gil asked, looking over the tops of his glasses. His voice was calm, but his frown and sad eyes told a different story.

"What? You don't think Sara did this?" Greg asked, looking up from the glass he was still sorting through.

"I'm not ruling anything out, Greg." Grissom shrugged his shoulders as if the situation was the most normal thing in the world. "And besides, you're not supposed to be around anything that has to do with this investigation, let alone discuss it."

Greg lowered his head, settling for being quiet and staying in the room, rather then voicing his thoughts and getting sent to another lab.

"Now come on, Gris. You know Sara is passionate about what she does! Why would she go off and kill somebody when she works everyday to put people like that behind bars?" Warrick knitted his eyebrows together as he spoke. He couldn't understand why Grissom would think Sara was an actual suspect.

"Sara is very capable of murder, just like any other person out there. We all our capable of it; we just don't act on it. You never know what could cause someone to snap. I'm not going to make any assumptions, and you shouldn't either. I'm just following the evidence." Gil took off his glasses, wiping them with a cloth from his pocket.

"That's the problem! You even said yourself there is no evidence; there should be nothing that points to Sara!" the Texan exclaimed, becoming very frustrated with his boss.

"No, there was not physical evidence, but the killer, the way they think, how precise they are, I don't think it just so happened to turn out this way." It was obvious Grissom was lost in his own thoughts, the way he stared off into space, absently talking about the murder.

Seeing the raised eyebrows, Catherine decided to elaborate, speaking for the first time. "How many people do you think could leave absolutely no evidence behind at a crime scene? I thought it was impossible, until today. Now, out of all the people that can leave a spotless crime scene, how many of those people do you think had motive to murder Stacey Michaels?"

"Several people!" Greg exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "I mean we only know of the argument between Sara and Stacey because we saw it. We don't know if Stacey fought with someone else before or after her ordeal with Sara!"

"Well then Greg, tell me this," Catherine put a hand on her hip and shifted her weight to one leg. "What are the chances that Sara takes off the same day this woman was murdered?!"

"I-" Greg quickly shut his mouth and ducked down when he saw Ecklie enter the room.

"Do you want to know one huge thing we missed?" Conrad asked, shaking his head in disbelief. "Ms. Michaels was murdered two blocks away from Sara's apartment complex. I say it's definitely time for a field trip to the Sidle residence. this shift is almost over, so I want to see everybody next shift ready to question our first suspect."

* * *

Cutting off the engine, Ecklie stepped out of the Tahoe, meeting up with Brass, Warrick, Catherine, Nick, and Grissom in front of the apartment complex.

"I don't think it will take all of us to question Sara, Conrad." Gil said, looking at everybody who had gathered around in a circle.

"You're right; it doesn't take all of us to question the suspect. That is why you, Brass, and Warrick will be asking the neighbors a few questions, seeing if they know anything," Ecklie replied, with amusement in his eyes. He knew Grissom was going to try and play his mind games with Sara, helping her out with riddles, and other nonsense.

Brass sighed, relieved he wouldn't have to be the one questioning Sara.

"I want you to start on the first and second floor. Sara lives on the third floor so skip that one and go to the next two, I will be asking the questions on that floor." Ecklie smirked, hoping they would find something against Sara.

Warrick and Brass nodded as they headed towards the front entrance of the building. Gil reluctantly turned to follow them.

"Catherine, Nick, when we get up there I would like for you to take a look around Sara's place, let me know if you see something suspicious.." Ecklie said, pulling out an evidence kit.

"Whoa, wait a minute. I thought we were just asking a few questions?" Nick looked at Ecklie as her pulled out two more kits.

"Yeah and we can't collect evidence unless we have a warrant," Catherine said, stepping in.

"Well, if she lets us in to look around, it shows she has nothing to hide. If not, we can just tell her we'll be back with a warrant." Ecklie closed the door to the Tahoe.

"You know how private Sara is," Nick started up again. "She could be innocent and still not let us go snooping around."

"I wonder what she's hiding that's so private?" Ecklie sneered, walking ahead.

Nick sighed, shaking his head. This case was not going to be pretty.

As the three investigators reached the elevator, Conrad pushed the 'up' button with his thumb several times, becoming impatient.

"You know that doesn't make the elevator go any faster." Catherine said, looking at Ecklie like he was stupid.

"Yes, I know, but it makes me feel more involved." Ecklie continued hitting the 'up' button.

Catherine rolled her eyes, sighing, as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

As the elevator doors opened, Nick stood and looked at Catherine and Ecklie, standing inside waiting on him.

"Come on Nicky, we don't have all day." Catherine said, holding the doors to the elevator.

The Texan took a deep breath as he stepped inside the elevator, very reluctant to question Sara.

Nick's only motivation was that he couldn't trust Ecklie or Catherine with Sara, alone. He had to make sure Sara was going to be treated fairly.

Reaching door number 311, the three investigators stopped.

Nick looked at Catherine, Catherine looked at Ecklie, and Ecklie just smirked.

Taking a deep breath, Nick knocked on the door rapidly, but it wasn't loud.

After a minute, no one answered, Ecklie began banging on the door.

Catherine quickly grabbed the assistant lab director's arm when she thought she heard yelling in the back ground.

"I'm coming Toni! Why do you always have to be so impatient? You act like the food is burning your-" Sara stopped yelling when she opened the door.

Straightening her posture into full business mode, the brunette looked at her colleagues, clenching her jaw.

"What are you doing here?" Sara snapped.

"Sara, may we come in?" Nick asked gently.

"I don't think so." The brunette gritted out, glaring at Catherine and Ecklie.

"Well, Sara." Nick started, trying to break the news to his friend easily.

"You know Stacey Michaels." Ecklie quickly interrupted. "Well, she's dead."

Nick glared at Ecklie, not believing what he just did.

"Can we take this inside?" Catherine asked, knowing that Sara's doorways wasn't the best place to discuss a murder.

Sara looked at Catherine up and down, and turned her head, ignoring her request.

"I knew that Stacey was dead, but what does that have to do with me?" The young woman shrugged, looking at Ecklie, showing no emotion.

Ecklie cocked his head to the side, noticing the lack of emotion Sara was showing. Something was off.

"How did you know she was murdered? Did you have something to do with it?" Catherine asked, fuming that Sara completely ignored her.

"Notice that I said I knew she was dead, I didn't say murdered." Sara corrected Catherine.

"Sara, can we please step inside to discuss this?" Nick pleaded.

The brunette turned around, walking towards her living room, expecting the others to follow.

Nick closed the door behind him as he made his way into Sara's apartment. He joined the others on a large black couch, opposite to the one Sara was sitting on.

Ecklie pulled out a small notepad and a pen, ready to take notes.

"Sara, what did Stacey do after the argument you two had in the parking lot?" Catherine asked, starting off with something relatively easy.

"I don't know. After the argument, I went straight home." Sara replied, looking at Catherine.

"Did Stacey call, leave a message, contact you in any way?" The blonde tried to elaborate her question.

"No." Sara crossed her legs and sighed. "I don't know what Stacey did after our argument, and I certainly don't know what she did before."

"Ok." Catherine said, drawing out the word. "What were you two arguing about?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," Sara said calmly.

"Sara-" Nick started, his eyes pleading with Sara to tell them something.

"Look here, Sidle!" Ecklie interrupted, getting tired of the slow interrogation. "You know something, so spill it, now!"

"I don't know anything," Sara repeated, becoming slightly irritated, but remaining calm.

"Sara, give us an alibi, anything so we can eliminate you as suspect." Nick tried to get Sara to open up and tell them something.

The young woman just shook her head. "I don't have an alibi; I came straight home."

"Well, Sara.you know how this works. Can we have a look around?" Catherine asked, clearly not happy with Sara's answers.

"No," came the curt reply from the brunette.

"Well, we'll be back with a warrant then," Ecklie said.

Sara just looked at him, shrugging her shoulders. "You don't have anything against me; you can't get a warrant."

The assistant lab director gritted his teeth as his nostrils flared. For a few moments Sara and Ecklie looked at each other, neither breaking eye contact.

"You must not want us to find something. You want to hide it before we come back. If you really are innocent you would let us have a look around, to help clear your name," Conrad said, trying to con the Sara into letting them search her apartment.

Sara looked at the balding man in front of her, oblivious to the curious looks she was receiving from her other two coworkers.

The brunette took a deep breath as she leaned forward on the couch.

Catherine, Ecklie, and Nick all leaned forward, anxious to hear what Sara was going to say.

A smirk appeared on Sara's lips as she looked from Catherine, to Nick, to Ecklie. All of them on the edge of their seats.

"Silly Ecklie, tricks are for kids."

* * *

I'm really hoping you guys can give me some ideas for this next chapter, I could really use some help. 


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